Five on Friday displays the the top five things that have been on my mind this week! It could be book-related, but it may be music, movies, TV, personal life, food, etc.
It’s been quite a few months since I’ve done one of these! It’s funny because the past two months have been incredibly busy for me; I would actually have A LOT to share… if I had taken the time to write them! Without further ado, here’s a big ol’ Five on Friday update!
As you probably saw in my recent end-of-month wrap-up, May was kind of intense. I usually have a very nonexistant social life because Chris and I tend to be homebodies, but we were so freaking busy in May. We had birthday parties, a jam-packed Mother’s Day, trips to Providence and Boston, a Lego event, a graduation… Yeah, it was crazy. We didn’t get a lot of time to ourselves on the weekends, that’s for sure. It was nice to mix it up a little but it would have been better to have some free time intermixed. I loved being a bit more social (which I’ll get to in my final point down there) and getting to meet bloggers at BEA (which is in my fourth point). I guess this is here just to be like, yeah, this month was insane.
Yeah it’s no secret that I’m damn antsy for football. As I’ve said, its my only hobby aside from reading. We’ve been watching the NFL Top 100 Players countdown over the past month, which is helping me not die from football withdrawls. Every week the Panthers let me know how many Sundays until football season begins (as of right now, 15 Sundays!). I’m loving the Top 100 list so far and am super anxious to see where some of my favorites end up on the list. Cam was #73 and Greg Olsen was #89, which is 
awesome. He’s finally getting the recognition he deserves; he’s super underrated. I know my baby Luke Kuechly will be somewhere in the top 20. BEYOND ALL THAT, Cam (QB) signed a 5-year, $103 million deal. Prettttty insane money. Some people say he doesn’t deserve it, but I say:
“Last season, Newton became the first player in NFL history to accumulate 10,000 passing yards and 2,000 rushing yards through his first four seasons. He has amassed 14,426 passing yards and 2,571 rushing yards by being productive every year, standing as the only player in league history to top 3,000 passing yards and 500 rushing yards in four consecutive seasons. His 33 rushing touchdowns are the most for a quarterback through four seasons in NFL history.” (Panthers website)
Also can we please talk about that picture? Cam playing with Lego? Like literally put a book in his other hand and you have the top three loves of my life in one photo. I can’t even deal with it.
There have been lots of interesting things in the news lately, both bookish and non-bookish, so I figured I’d share some of my thoughts. (Thing #1) I am mostly very happy about the response to Caitlyn Jenner. Anyone who doesn’t think she’s brave needs to get the hell off of my Facebook. I will say that I love John Stewart’s video in response too, commenting that people were overall pretty accepting… but that Caitlyn is already being treated like a woman in America. People are so focused on her looks! It’s ridiculous. Transpeople don’t only deserve recognition when they’re “traditionally” pretty. I loved Laverne Cox’s Tumblr post about this too. (Thing #2) I’m sincerely appalled by everything surrounding Josh Duggar. This feels like “old news” unfortunately at this point, but ugh. I have to say something. Anyone who thinks he is forgiven by God for molestation is sorely mistaken. I’m not religous – the literal opposite, actually – but I don’t think that’s something that can be forgiven like that. This is coming from the poeple who think being gay is a sin that can’t be forgiven?? UGH I’m getting heated just thinking about it right now. The Duggars are on my shit list and I hate that I ever watched that show. What a hypocritical creep. (Thing #3) The god-forsaken new Fifty Shades of Grey book makes me die a little inside. It sucks that people don’t realize how problematic that book series is. (My thoughts on it here.) I posted a tweet that said I wanted to puke when I found out and it was featured in this Book Riot post, which was hilariously done. (It’s right at the top of that article if you want to check it out lol.) I’m so glad to see my tweet is included in the perfect article for me to be featured in. I’m so over everything in that fandom and really wish I could show people (mostly my Facebook friends) how awful it all is.
So I think I’ve said on here about a MILLION times that Chris and I want to plan trips. We keep pushing them off for various reasons but things are actually, finally being planned. We’re headed to Chicago in a couple of weeks for Brick World! It’s a huuuuge Lego convention with people’s 
creations, workshops, events, and seminars. It’s essentially like the Book Expo America for Lego people. We just booked our hotel and flights, so we’re officially going. For real. Thank god! I could really use a nice long weekend away from work. I’m so bad about taking time off usually. So, aside from the upcoming trip to Chicago, we’ll hopefully be also heading to Maine around the 4th of July to see my family up there. That one isn’t finalized yet because obviously we love to be last minute people. As I mentioned, I recently spent the day in NYC for BEA. We also went to Providence to see my friends for an afternoon last weekend. We went to this awesome bowling alley/bar in a refurbished mill building. It was so cool and the beer was delicious. We also got some ice cream and day-old donuts (lol) from a little stand nearby. I love visiting Prov because I went to college 20 minutes from there and spent so much time in that area. My friend lives in the northern area, which is even closer to my school, so the whole area is familiar and fun to return to. We even went to the Target I used to shop at back then. I ended up with a $3 fedora and the boys obviously had to try some stuff on too. Aaaand earlier this month we went to Boston for the day (hence the Lego giraffe picture way up there). 
Lately I’ve been making a conscious effort to hang out more with my friends. I’ve said before how we tend to get into a homebody rut, so I’m really aiming to see people and get out more. I’ve spent a lot of time with my best friend, her adorable son, and her fian
cee. We took a day trip down to Mystic for a BBQ, celebrated his birthday, and have hung out in their new apartment within the last month. He just turned three and is crazy and hilarious. Doesn’t he make the cutest Harry Potter?! I can’t even deal. Anyways, aside from my real life friends, I was able to meet a lot of bloggers at BEA! It was a great experience (that you can read about here) and I’m so glad I was able to go. Spending the day with Alyssa, Amy, and Brittany was fun. It was incredibly tiring – the day started at 3:45 in the morning and ended at midnight – but worth it. But these two “types of friends” isn’t even what I was referring to with my post title here; now I can consider them “real” friends too. The other friends I’m mentioning is OBVIOUSLY my insane love for the show Friends. Even though I am bitter about it being on Netflix because I want to keep it all to myself, I have to admit that it’s convenient. I’ve been watching it on my iPad while getting ready in the morning. This has definitely cut down on my audiobook time, but it’s fine. I’m currently in the middle of my millionth (probably not even an exaggeration) full rewatch. I’m at the end of season six and loving it. Once I finish this round of rewatching, I’ll probably try to get to some other shows I’ve been neglecting. Devious Maids is back on, which I love, and I’ve been meaning to finally watch a few other things. I started The 100 a long time ago and maybe will continue with it… same goes with Girls, The Vampire Diaries, and Game of Thrones. I’ve also been intrigued by Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Friday Night Lights, Mad Men, Gilmore Girls, True Blood, Veronica Mars… the list seriously goes on and on.
Okay, I agree with you SO MUCH about your newsworthy things!! I think Caitlin Jenner IS a hero and incredibly brave. If anything, all the backlash just proves it. It takes NOTHING away form our military to call her a hero. Also, I am disgusted by Josh Duggar and his whole family. Their interview was nothing but minimalizations. I just can’t believe they said “we weren’t mandated reporters” and “it wasn’t rape.” I mean, come on!! Talk about denial. These were their DAUGHTERS and they are just sweeping it under the rug. People aren’t coming after them because they are Christian. It is because the Duggars protected a child molester. And why didn’t Josh Duggar give an interview? Why focus on his parents? Okay, I could go on and on and on. Ha. And I seriously CANNOT BELIEVE they are making another Grey’s book from Christian’s POV. Because I really want to read a book from the POV of an abusive, controlling prick. Ugh
HAHA I LOVE IT. Your comments are SO spot-on with how I feel about everything! <3
I’m so over the Duggar scandal. If people can’t see that they are clearly in it for the money, then they need to get their heads examined. It’s just disgusting, and then to see his sisters defend him? I can’t even. I understand they are a close and forgiving family (and I see nothing wrong with that or their faith in God), but at some point, you’ve got to take a step back and realize that something isn’t right. And I don’t want to get political, but they did… It just seems like they are getting every big name politician on their side to defend Josh. It’s just sickening. It literally makes me want to vomit.
Sorry… I don’t know where all that came from… I got fired up, I guess.
I totally understand!